Arthur Miller's masterpiece, The Crucible, is a work of art inspired by actual events as a response to political and moral issues. Although the play provides an accurate account of the Salem witch-hunts and trials of 1692, its real achievement lies in the many important issues of Miller's time that it deals with. The Crucible is a searing parable of conformity and the imbalance of power of the 1950s.

In The Crucible, the need to conform to the church's views is quite apparent. Characters find themselves in situations where they must compromise their beliefs and values or face death. They must either turn their backs on what they believe in and lie by admitting to having had "relations with the Devil," thereby conforming with the church's wishes, or they must follow their individualistic beliefs and refuse to lie. Through the character Abigail Williams, Miller shows how people are willing to abandon their firmly established values in order to conform to the majority and protect themselves. Those who refuse to part with their conscience, such as the character of John Proctor, are consequently prosecuted. When Miller wrote The Crucible in the early 1950s, the United States was experiencing a modern "witch hunt" of its own. Senator Joseph McCarthy, provoked by the Cold War, became fearfully convinced that Communists were polluting American government. He intended to hunt them out, force them to confess, and make them name their associates, or face the consequences. The Salem judges imposed the same magnitude of conformity; innocent citizens were sought after, forced to confess, and if they refused to confess, they were sent to the gallows. Miller also questions the administration of justice, exposing how much power a sole individual possesses when that individual defines the ideologies or beliefs by which society lives. During the Salem Witch Trials, religion was the answer to the unfathomable and unknown. As a result, ministers and priests retained all the power...

YOU MAY ALSO FIND THESE DOCUMENTS HELPFUL

...statement coincides with the idea that history repeats itself. A perfect example of this is the similarities between the Salem WitchTrials and McCarthyism. The Salem WitchTrials were portrayed in the novel, The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this novel during the McCarthy era. Arthur Miller was put on trial for communism in the same fashion of many during the Salem WitchTrials....

...McCarthyism vs WitchTrials
Does history repeat itself? Back in 1692, a couple of teenage girls decided to have a little fun with witchcraft. That little game turned into a “death play” with thousands of lives being taken away by simply having someone point a finger and say one’s name. Likewise in the early 1950s, we saw a similar type of witchcraft happen because of the fear of communism. Hundreds of lives and careers were ruined because...

...While the Salem witchtrials occurred in the late 1600’s, a similar unfortunate situation occurred in the 1950’s with an event called McCarthyism. The Red Scare and the Salem witchtrials shared many common characteristics. The similarities include continuous accusations, leading politicians, and the reaction to Satan and communism.
The Salem witchtrials and the Red Scare both involved...

...A review of A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England WitchTrials, by Laurie Winn Carlson, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, 2000; 224 pp. $14.95 Paperback. ISBN: 1-566633095
A FEVER IN SALEM POSITS A biological cause for the early modem witchcraft epidemic, which resulted in the hanging of 19 people in Salem, MA, in 1692. Witchcraft persecution, Laurie Carlson writes, arose because of the strange behavior of the supposedly bewitched accusers. She concludes...

...2011
McCarthyism Vs. Salem WitchTrials
What would your reaction be if you were accused of something and were innocent? This is what happened to many people in the Salem WitchTrials and in McCarthyism. Innocent people were being punished for crimes that they did not commit. Even though there was little evidence, they were being hurt simply because somebody didn’t like their personal beliefs. The Salem...

...The WitchTrials and McCarthyism
There is little symbolism within The Crucible, but, in its entirety, the play can be seen as symbolic of the paranoia about communism that pervaded America in the 1950s. Several parallels exist between the House Un-American Activities Committee’s rooting out of suspected communists during this time and the seventeenth-century witch-hunt that Miller depicts in The Crucible, including the...

...quote shows both the dilemma in the Salem WitchTrials, which Arthur Miller set his story in, and the era of McCarthyism which he kind of writes about; John was going to confess to being a witch but couldn’t because he didn’t want to ruin his name for his family. He was an innocent man but died because he didn’t confess. This is very similar to what was happening during the 50’s when McCarthyism first started. Arthur...

...include concepts such as McCarthyism, it is generally accepted that the most classic example of all such social tragedies based on fear and ignorance is that of the colonial era's Salem WitchTrials.
While Mc Carthyism was illustrated as a widespread fear of communism that led the United States to pursue unnecessary investigations, imprisonments, and often unprovoked acts against those who were often only remotely accused of being a "dreaded...